1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a touch panel, and more particularly, to a multi-functional single plate touch panel.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various types of touch input technology are widely used in electronic products, e.g. mobile phones and tablet PCs, which use a touch panel as an input device, such that a user may perform touch operations on the touch panel to input commands, e.g. drag a finger to move a cursor or write words on the touch panel. Also, the touch panel may cooperate with a display panel to show virtual keys for being selected by the user to input characters and words.
In general, touch panels are categorized into resistive, capacitive, ultrasound, and infrared types, wherein the resistive touch panels are the most popular. The resistive touch panels may be further categorized into 4-wire, 5-wire, 6-wire, and 8-wire touch panels, wherein the 4-wire touch panels have been widely manufactured and applied due to consideration of cost and technology maturity.
A touch plate includes two plates, a trace layer formed in the plate, an insulation layer, and a flexible printing circuit (FPC) pattern, etc., wherein the trace layer, insulation layer, and the FPC pattern are disposed between the two plates. Usually, one of the plates is used as a substrate of each structural layer and the other plate closer to the operation side is used as a cover lens. However, the panel may be thicker in such case, which does not comply with current trend.
Therefore, how to design a lighter and thinner touch panel by a modularized process has become an important topic in the industry.